Throughout the history of agriculture, the financial success of the farmer has depended considerably on how efficiently and cost effectively the farmer could produce his crop. Whenever devices improve the efficiency with which the farmer can perform a required task, the size of crop the farmer can produce is increased. Also, with more efficient machines the farmer requires fewer laborers to produce the crop. Even small improvements in efficiency allow the farmer to increase his productivity, perhaps making a failing farmer into a successful one.
One task required of orchard farmers is that of pruning the trees. The more efficiently the orchard can be pruned, the more time the farmer will have for other tasks and the fewer laborers the farmer will need to hire in order to prune the orchard. Pruning is best accomplished while the trees are dormant or after harvest. Frequently, the terrain in the orchard is inhospitable to machinery at this time because of muddy, bog-like conditions associated with the rainy season.
Many devices exist in the prior art designed to improve the efficiency with which an orchard can be pruned or other tree maintenance tasks may be performed. Some devices require mounting on other vehicles or require that they be towed behind vehicles. Those that are self contained as a vehicle inadequately address the problem of maneuvering through unstable surfaces, such as mud, often prevalent in the orchard environment. These pruning vehicles also require greater numbers of operators for their use.
The invention of this application provides a self contained pruning vehicle designed to easily maneuver through the orchard environment, provide easily controllable access to the trees for pruning, and be operable by a small group of men or even one man alone.
The following prior art reflect the state of the art of which applicant is aware and are included herewith to discharge applicant's acknowledged duty to disclose relevant prior art. It is stipulated, however, that none of these references teach singly nor render obvious when considered in any conceivable combination the nexus of the instant invention as disclosed in greater detail hereinafter and as particularly claimed.
______________________________________ INVENTOR U.S. PAT. NO. ISSUE DATE ______________________________________ Ray 2,450,812 October 5, 1948 Cardiff 2,601,092 June 17, 1952 Stemm 2,616,768 November 4, 1952 Gregory Re. 25,746 March 23, 1965 Fridley 3,537,236 November 3, 1970 Johnson 3,641,738 February 15, 1972 ______________________________________